1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to golf training aids and, more particularly, to putting training aids for maintaining head position after ball impact.
2. Description of Related Art
Golf is a recreational sport that is very popular throughout the world. Golfers spend large amounts of money on new clubs, balls, and training aids in an attempt to improve their games.
Many available training aids are very complicated and require golfers to change or manipulate their natural swings. Some training aids are just impractical because they are too large and cumbersome to be taken to golf courses and practice facilities. Many of these training aids are just too expensive and do not work.
Putting and short game comprises a majority of the shots taken during an average round of golf. Therefore, an inexpensive and effective putting training aid would be invaluable to improving a golfer's score.
One of the most important concepts in putting is maintaining your head in a down position throughout the entire putting stroke in order to move the putter and hands down the target line. Many golfers have a tendency to pick their heads up too soon or immediately after a putting stroke. They are anxious to see if the ball is on the correct path towards the hole immediately after the ball leaves the putter face. “Peaking” may be the largest problem among golfers' putting games and can result in drastically higher scores. If the eyes move, the head moves, and the upper body follows, throwing the stroke off line, which leads to poor contact. Plus, if the golfer is distracted by thoughts of where the ball is going, focus is taken off the task of keeping the putter and hands moving directly down the target line. Simply put, a golfer that picks up his or her head will not contact the ball properly, thereby resulting in off-line putts, poor distance control, and higher scores.
Examples of some training aids are disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 7,169,067 and 7,513,833. These devices are optimized to teach hand-eye coordination for impacting an object and “keeping your eye on the ball”. The devices disclosed in these two patents utilize a plurality of colored lights to indicate whether a golfer and/or a batter has kept their eyes on the ball by flashing one of a plurality of colored lights for only fractions of a second, wherein if a golfer or batter has kept his or her eyes on the ball, he or she will be able to recognize the color of the light that was flashed. That same colored light is flashed a second time after a period of time so that the user can confirm the color he or she saw. However, the devices disclosed in these patents fail to consider the specifics of the putting stroke. The devices of these patents are optimized for a full swing by a bat or golf club. The full swing nature of these devices requires the presence of a cylindrical tee on them.
The slower, shorter putting stroke requires a golfer to maintain his or her head position for much longer than a fraction of a second so that the golfer can maintain the putter head moving down the target line. If a golfer picks up his or her head after only a fraction of a second, the putting stroke will be moved off line. The golf swing device disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 7,513,833 utilizes a non-ball focal point for placement of the lights. The device of U.S. Pat. No. 7,513,833 requires the user to focus on three different points away from the golf ball to maintain eye contact away from the ball during a golf club swing. This is completely contrary to popular and established putting technique, which requires the golfer to maintain focus on the ball itself and its starting position even after impact. Further, putting requires an unobstructed, smooth path for a golf ball to roll towards a target. The devices disclosed in the above patents fail to consider this and, therefore, do not permit a practicing golfer to obtain a true representation of a putting stroke.